This American Life podcast re: being fat

I'm obsessed with podcasts. I listen to a ton of them, between those and audiobooks my commute and getting ready time is pretty enjoyable.

One of those I listen to regularly is This American Life. I listened to the most recent episode and it was about being fat. It broke my heart :( It was about accepting yourself as you are - which I honestly completely agree with even though I had surgery. One of the segments told the story of a college in the 70s that had fat testing and if you were over a certain weight they legit kicked you out. It seriously made me cry.

I'm still fat and will always be fat - I'm just a much smaller fat than I was before.

Has anyone else listened to this episode?

Thanks for sharing! I just downloaded it so I can listen to it while I drive up to the cabin today.

Just finished it and I would recommend it too!  The stories were very powerful.  Thanks again for sharing.

I did watch it. I agree it was heartbreaking, but I also thought the first segment was so refreshing... because it's a message of obesity that we almost never hear (and needs to be told more, I think).

I was most affected by the woman in the second segment. my heart - my heart went out to her, as she was clearly struggling with adjusting mentally & emotionally to her new body. (I also felt bad for her poor husband who was being asked to defend himself as to why he wouldn't have asked her larger self out.) I found myself hoping she gets some professional help.

I finished this yesterday and had the same reaction to that segment. While I agree that the is a pervasive bias against obese people,  or fat people,  she really was just poking the bear with her husband.  I hope they can work through that,  because it's something that could tear them apart. 

I just listened to it this morning and immediately came here to see if anyone else posted about it. 

I most strongly related to the story of the woman who lost the weight and then wasn't sure who she was anymore, the new way people treated her, and if her husband would have loved her when she was fat.

Even though I have fat acceptance for others, I never got to a place where I felt it for myself. I wonder if it was my personal lack of self esteem that made people treat me poorly, or it was actually the physical fat. The jury is still out, in my book.

I really appreciated the whole podcast and the conversation. I'm glad you posted about it. I hope more will listen!

It was so great. I loved that episode. 

I think mentally I will always see myself as larger bodied. It's such a huge part of my history. The stories were so familiar. 

I want every non-fat person to be forced to listen to that podcast!

I sent it to my BFF who is a size 0 but who has a very open mind and loves me at every size. I made her listen to it and told her that I cried because that's how I've felt my whole life.

I struggle between the self acceptance and striving to be healthy balance and have for a long time. Surgery was 100% the right move for me but I never want to be that asshole to other obese people who it's not the right move for or they can't get surgery.

Thanks for sharing. I just listened to it. I know for me, the health risks associated with being obese were much too great for me to risk (most people in my family have died at an early age from heart attacks and strokes).

I agree that we must strive to love ourselves no matter what. I don't think most obese people do. I notice the sadness in my friends eyes who struggle with their weight and self-acceptance. Even with my weight loss it took years for me to love myself and accept myself flabby skin, scars, and all.